I Blackmailed Her Brother

by Jessica Frances

  I feel my walls squeeze around me. The moan on my lips is Scarlett’s name as I picture her in front of me, touching herself while touching me. It feels so real as I shift my thumb over my clit and rub tight circles while I twist my fingers inside me, hitting the spot guaranteed to make my toes curl.

  “Yes, Scarlett, yes,” I hiss, joining a third finger with my other two.

  My head bangs against the tiled wall as I begin to lose my balance, my mind’s eye only seeing Scarlett as I continue moving, my entire body jolting in pleasure as I finally make myself come.

  My body shudders as I lean against the cold surface of the tiles, my breath trembling and my body shattered. This is the hardest I have come in a long time.

  I feel tender as I move my fingers out, my thumb brushing my clit, causing another shot to shudder over me.

  I turn back to the water, washing away any evidence that I just got off and wishing I felt better about what I just did, instead of more turned on. Hopefully, a full night’s sleep, plus the hectic day tomorrow promises to be, will help me keep my mind off Scarlett and away from dirty thoughts.

  Finishing up what I need to do before bed and changing into my pajamas, I listen as I open the bathroom door, only to hear silence. Scarlett has obviously finished her phone call, and judging by the darkness under her door, she most likely went to bed and hopefully is asleep. If anyone needs a good night’s rest right now, it’s her.

  I tiptoe over to my bedroom and open my door, coming up short when I find Scarlett sitting cross-legged on top of my covers in her pajamas.

  “Hey,” she softly murmurs, sounding upset.

  “What happened? Are you okay? Did Nix say something to upset you?” I ask, rushing the rest of the way inside, dropping my towel and dirty clothes in my washing basket in the corner before crawling on top of the covers to sit beside her.

  “Nothing happened,” she assures me. “It was just harder than I thought. He was angry that I didn’t tell him sooner, but glad that I came clean. He wants me to stay with him and Harvey.” She finally looks up at me.

  I’m not sure what to say. Does she want to leave? I should be happy that might be the case. Having her close is clearly messing with my mind and my heart. Then again, the idea that she might leave feels like losing her all over again.

  “Do you want to stay with them?” I finally ask.

  “And hear them bumping uglies all night? Not really. I admit to finding it hot to see them kiss but listening to them is another story altogether.”

  I snort out a laugh, more grossed out by the image of my coworker and friend than anything else, but part of me is sad this is the only reason she wants to stay.

  “Okay, so you’ll stay here?” I confirm, hoping I don’t sound as wishful as I feel.

  “I’d like to. I …” She bites her lip, and I’m reminded of imagining the exact same thing just moments earlier when I was masturbating.

  Shit, of all the times to get hot, now is not one of them!

  “You can tell me anything, Lettie,” I encourage, using the nickname I started calling her just before we broke up.

  It just slips out, a name I had forgotten until just now, and my heart squeezes painfully from the memories it brings up.

  I watch her breath catch as if she is just as affected.

  “I’m feeling confused being around you. I thought …” She looks me in the eye now, not one to take the coward way out. “I thought I was over you. I mean, I know I thought about you often, but I thought I didn’t need you. I was even happy before. But now … I think I was just fooling myself. I’ve missed you, Cyn, so freaking much.”

  My own breath catches this time, words I have wished spoken between us finally floating in the air. Happiness, hopefulness, and fear crash through me all at once, leaving me breathless and full at the same time.

  “I never got over you, Lettie,” I whisper, unable to speak louder due to the emotions clogging my vocal cords. “I realized the day I broke us that I loved you. My heart shattered, and it never pieced back together.”

  When Scarlett gives me a watery smile, I reach over and pull her down until we are lying flat and I hug her to me. She hugs me back, crying into my shoulder, and I kiss her hair, murmuring soft words to soothe her as she gets out all the tears she has held back.

  Time passes as she slowly gets herself under control. When she finally pulls away, I reach over to my bedside table and grab a tissue, passing it to her.

  “Thanks.”

  I give her a small smile, watching her dab her eyes then blow her nose. Her hair is a mess, her eyes are bloodshot, her skin is pale and blotchy, and there are dark shadows under her eyes, but she’s never looked so beautiful to me.

  She’s strong, resilient, fierce, and brave. She’s everything to me, and she is showing me a side I never got to see before. She was always smiling, always bubbly, and always quick to shrug things off.

  Our first true fight was when I messed up with her brother. That was the first time I ever saw her so angry. This is the first time she has let me see her cry and let me be the one to comfort her.

  I know this is special. That, without words, she has shared something with me that she has never shared with anyone.

  “Can I …?” She hiccups and shakes her head before she continues, “Can I stay here with you tonight? I still feel shaken up after today, and I don’t want to be alone.”

  “Of course,” I immediately answer.

  She smiles her thanks, and then we move up the bed to get under the covers. I hand her another tissue, and when she’s ready, she snuggles under the sheets and into my waiting arms, her arm over my waist, her head on my shoulder, and her warm breath brushing over my neck.

  I switch off my lamp beside me and blink up at my ceiling, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Somehow, with Scarlett pressed up against me, I doubt I will be getting to sleep easily tonight. Still, I would take a sleepless night with Scarlett in my arms than spend another night without her.

  “I guess you answered my unasked question,” I murmur.

  “What unasked question?”

  “About whether you still sleep naked or not.”

  She chuckles, her body rocking against my side. “I do, just didn’t want to give you a heart attack when you came out of the bathroom. Besides, you asked me not to,” she reminds me.

  I swallow past my dry throat. “I don’t know that I would have had a heart attack …”

  “Okay, then I thought you probably saw enough of me since you moaned my name while clearly getting off in the shower,” she utters with a smile in her voice.

  “What?” I gasp, mortified that I was loud enough that she heard me. “You heard me?”

  “You mean, you did?” she says on a laugh, sitting up, her shadow looming over me. I can’t see her expression. “I was just messing with you.”

  “So was I,” I quickly rebut, sounding like a lie to my own ears.

  “Shit, that is hot. I wish I could have seen you,” she admits, easing my fears that I might have driven her away.

  “You do?”

  “Fuck yes. Next time, I want to be with you when you get off. You know how I liked watching you before. It’s one of the things I’ve seriously missed about us. No one is as hot when they’re riding their hand. No one. I want to own all your orgasms.”

  My breathing is as erratic as the blood rushing in my ears, but while I feel suddenly flushed and on edge, a part of me knows that rushing things is a wrong decision. Especially after today.

  I’m so close to telling her that she already does own them, that she stars in every single one of my fantasies, but the yawn that forces its way out of her, plus the memory of how tired she looked before, halts that discussion.

  Scarlett needs to sleep. We both do.

  “Deal. Now go to sleep.” I tug her back down against me, and this time she links her leg through mine, entwining us completely as she hugs my waist tighter, her breasts pushed up against me and her breath
tickling its way down my cleavage.

  Yep, I am not getting any sleep for a while.

  “I wish I could get past what happened. Get past what you did,” she murmurs, her voice barely above a whisper.

  I feel like those words are for her, not me, but they crush me all the same.

  She might still be sexually attracted to me, but that doesn’t mean she wants to start up a relationship.

  Can I ever be satisfied with that? To never have a deeper, emotional connection with Scarlett? To keep things purely physical?

  I ponder this, knowing deep down that I want everything with her, not just part of her.

  Can I ever get that back?

  I listen to her breathing deepen, feeling her body growing lax. I turn my head, deeply breathing in the smell of her conditioner and realizing that I have never felt more at home than in this moment.

  Resolve builds inside me. I have to give this my all. Scarlett might not be able to get past what happened on her own, but I can do everything in my power to make her realize I’m worthy of her forgiveness.

  This time, I won’t give Scarlett up without a fight.

  She is mine, and I am hers.

  That. Is. Final.

  Chapter 8

  I’m busy typing on my laptop, my car seat all the way back to accommodate it, when I see movement in the corner of my eye. I keep typing, though, as my focus shifts from scanning through police reports on Sanchez to the man approaching.

  The familiar figure isn’t a surprise to see outside of Nix’s restaurant, but it is surprising that he is heading my way.

  I shift my laptop over to the passenger side and wind down my window, shivering as the warm air I had managed to hoard dissipates, replaced with a chill that I know won’t take long to soak into my body.

  “Harvey, everything okay?” I ask when he leans over, his face fogging the lower part of my window.

  “Zander wants to speak to you in person. He asked me to take over watch of Scarlett.”

  I shift my eyes to the restaurant, already knowing they are sitting by the bar, going over papers. They have barely moved in two hours, and while I can’t hear their words, their hand gestures often suggest they are butting heads.

  “Why? Has he found something?”

  “I don’t know. He just asked me to take over. I promised Nix I would stop by for lunch, so this made the most sense.”

  “But I—”

  “You seriously think I would let anything happen to her? You think I would even let any danger get close to Nix?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

  No, of course I know Harvey would never do that. He is incredibly protective of Nix, and I have even seen him be protective of Scarlett. I trust all my coworkers implicitly.

  “It’s the day Wally testifies,” I remind him, not that this is new information.

  While a smart play would be to have had something done to Scarlett and her family before Wally had time to testify, that doesn’t mean they are off the hook. It might now turn into retribution rather than a way to deter him from testifying.

  Scarlett might be on safer ground than she was yesterday. That doesn’t change the fact that her parents are still technically missing and a very dangerous drug cartel is likely to officially lose their leader very soon. Meanwhile, the unofficial leader has been elusive. Not even Jerry has been able to trace them.

  To have zero fallout seems unlikely.

  “I know he’s testifying today,” Harvey says patiently, like he is speaking to an errant child. “Look, Scarlett is Nix’s best friend. She might be more like an annoying little sister to me, but Nix loves her. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

  I bite my tongue on telling him that, by admitting she is like a little sister to him, this also suggests he loves her as well. Harvey can be hard to read. He has softened up considerably since Nix entered his life, yet he doesn’t exactly go about declaring his feelings often.

  Sometimes, it’s better to read Harvey from what he doesn’t say than what he does.

  “Okay, thanks. I’ll be back when I can.”

  “Take your time.” He straightens up, slapping the roof of my car with his glove-clad hand, and then I watch him cross the road, speeding up to avoid a car that doesn’t appear like it’s going to slow for him. As soon as he makes it to the front of the restaurant, he slaps his hand down on the front door.

  I glance through my camera lens to see Scarlett and Nix both jump from the noise, their bodies collectively swinging on their stools to see who is there, before a small smile warms Scarlett’s lips and a huge grin lands over Nix’s. He rushes over to let Harvey in, while Scarlett’s eyes glance outside and over to my car.

  I start up the engine, hoping to get this perfect parking spot again later, before I flash my lights as I drive past.

  The drive back to J.P.I. is mostly calm, until I am close to the office and get stuck behind a truck that is moving as slow as a snail. The back of it is empty as it slowly eases into the parking lot beside ours, heading into the construction site.

  For eight months, they have been working on and off on the building site next door. There have been two union strikes and a financing issue that has delayed its completion. We have had to deal with loud noises, dust, and constant traffic for far too long.

  Pulling into the parking lot, I take no time shutting off my car before rushing inside. I spent months without laying eyes on Scarlett. Now, just being away from her for not even twenty minutes is making me anxious.

  “Cynthia! What are you doing here?” Sasha asks, standing up from her chair, subconsciously resting her hands over her tummy.

  “Harvey said Zander wanted to see me?”

  She glances over my shoulder to peer outside, her eyes connecting with something before they come back to me. “You might want to quickly get in there. Ava is on her way in, and we both know there is no way Zander is seeing you anytime soon if she gets in there first.”

  I heed her warning, not that I think Zander would put sex in front of important work. Then again, I don’t want to risk it.

  I rush down the hallway, knocking on his open door before stepping in when he nods at me. Then he shifts his eyes immediately back to the computer screen.

  I was worried over how Zander would take my secret case, but when I filled him in this morning, there was no judgment or reprimand. He just wanted to know the facts and to assure me that he had my back.

  “Can you translate that, Jerry?” he asks, the tapping noises echoing from what I assumed was his computer aren’t coming from him since his hands are resting still.

  “My program is running now,” Jerry mumbles through the phone speaker, his tone distracted.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, moving into the office and taking a seat in front of his desk.

  “Jerry got a lead on Scarlett’s parents,” he murmurs, scanning his screen.

  I jump to my feet, my ingrained manners leaving me as I shift around to Zander’s side, glancing over what looks like security feeds.

  “Where is this?”

  “Security footage in Paris. Her parents were mugged,” he distractedly informs me. “We found the police report they filed. Their passports are still on the cruise ship, but it seems like they missed their chance to get back on the ship because of this mishap.”

  “They were mugged?” I gasp, watching the screen as two men in dark clothing bump into Scarlett’s parents. The whole thing takes about three seconds, but in those three seconds, both their wallets are lifted, and I think even Nathan’s watch is gone.

  “Yep. Looks like a couple of professionals. Jerry was able to hack into the feeds once we translated the police report. The Booths got in contact with their insurance company back here and got access to some emergency funds, but since then, they haven’t been heard of.”

  “You think something happened to them afterward,” I summarize.

  “It would be foolish to assume the drug cartel here would be unable to plan something in Europe.
But that takes some serious planning and money, and I don’t see what angle would make any of that worth it.”

  “So then, what do you think happened?” I ask, attempting to keep the panic out of my voice. This doesn’t look good, but I shouldn’t let myself think the worst just yet.

  “I don’t know. Just because this might not have anything to do with the trial, doesn’t mean bad shit doesn’t happen every day around the world.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel better,” I murmur. “You think they’re in serious trouble?”

  “From what I was able to discern from the ship’s crew, the Booths left their cell phones in their room, so their lack of contact with Scarlett could be something as simple as having no idea what her cell number is.

  “I make a point of learning important numbers, and Ava and Jensen both have my number memorized. When Kiera is old enough, I’ll make her do it, too, but not everyone is as vigilant.”

  “Surely they could look this number up and …” I trail off, knowing our number here is listed on our website, but that doesn’t mean they would think to give it a try.

  “And what? Speak to Scarlett’s ex-girlfriend?”

  I don’t love that description, even though it’s technically a valid one.

  “What about Nix—”

  “The restaurant doesn’t have a phone line set up yet.”

  And I doubt Scarlett has informed them about her second job at the café, since she wouldn’t want them to think she is struggling. Plus, they don’t have a working answering machine at their own home where they mistakenly believe Wally still is. So, while they might have tried calling to catch him, they would have zero luck.

  “Okay, fine. So they are stuck on calling home, but why didn’t they call the ship? They would have emergency numbers, which would include Scar—”

  “You’re focusing on the wrong thing right now!” Jerry snaps, his voice making me jump since I forgot he was around. “I tracked them from when they received their emergency passport and access to money, down to a hotel. They stayed there for one night, but then they checked out.”

  “Checked out to go where?”